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Jim Abrahams

Highest Rated: 97% Airplane! (1980)

Lowest Rated: 14% Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)

Birthday: May 10, 1944

Birthplace: Shorewood, Wisconsin, USA

With college friends Jerry and David Zucker, Jim Abrahams is co-founder of the Kentucky Fried Theater in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1969. ZAZ (as they came to be known) subsequently moved their satirical group to Los Angeles and set up a theater there. They made their first venture into feature filmmaking with "The Kentucky Fried Movie" (1977). Directed by John Landis, the film was a memorable series of absurd, vulgar and (mostly) wildly funny send-ups of popular culture. Most of their subsequent work has been in a similar vein. "Airplane!" (1980), "Top Secret!" (1984) and "The Naked Gun" (1988) pay satirical homage to, respectively, the disaster film, the spy film and the police film. Trademark features include scattershot pop culture allusions, rapid-fire anything-for-a-laugh gags, and rugged, but notoriously stiff, second echelon actors from the 1950s (e.g., Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves).

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Highest rated movies

97% 89% Airplane! Watchlist
93% 72% Ruthless People
Watchlist 86% 84% The Naked Gun Watchlist
82% 65% Hot Shots!
Watchlist 76% 80% Top Secret! Watchlist
73% 77% Cry Baby
Watchlist
59% 63% Hot Shots! Part Deux
Watchlist 58% 65% The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear Watchlist 58% 53% Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult Watchlist
55% 47% Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
Watchlist
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Jim Abrahams

Jim Abrahams TOP SECRET, Writer-Director team David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, on set, 1984 WELCOME HOME, ROXY CARMICHAEL, director Jim Abrahams, 1990, ©Paramount RUTHLESS PEOPLE, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, on set, 1986 THE KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, Rick Baker, (in gorilla suit), screenwriters Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, 1977 HOT SHOTS!, Lloyd Bridges, director Jim Abrahams on set, 1991, TM and Copyright (c)20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. AIRPLANE!, Jerry Zucker, Howard Koch, Robert K. Weiss, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, on set, 1980 HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX, Charlie Sheen, director Jim Abrahams on set, 1993, TM and Copyright (c)20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. View more photos

Filmography

Movies

Credit
34% 51% Scary Movie 4 Writer $90.7M 2006
14% 47% Jane Austen's Mafia! Director $19.9M 1998
No Score Yet 66% ...First Do No Harm Director,
Producer,
Executive Producer 		- 1997
58% 53% Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult Executive Producer $48.1M 1994
59% 63% Hot Shots! Part Deux Director,
Screenwriter 		$38.6M 1993
58% 65% The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear Executive Producer $84.3M 1991
82% 65% Hot Shots! Director,
Screenwriter 		$68.3M 1991
55% 47% Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael Director $3.5M 1990
73% 77% Cry Baby Executive Producer $7.5M 1990
52% 69% Big Business Director $39.6M 1988
86% 84% The Naked Gun Screenwriter,
Executive Producer 		$77.9M 1988
93% 72% Ruthless People Director $70.9M 1986
76% 80% Top Secret! Director,
Writer,
Executive Producer 		- 1984
97% 89% Airplane! Director,
Writer,
Executive Producer 		- 1980

TV

Credit
90% 93% Police Squad! Executive Producer,
Director,
Writer 		1982